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  <channel>
    <title>Gaia Community: eBuzz's Blog</title>
    <id>tag:gaia.com,2008,:Gaia</id>
    <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/feed</link>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <ttl>20</ttl>
    <pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:40:42 GMT</pubDate>
    <description>Gaia Community: eBuzz's Blog</description>
    <item>
      <title>We are in a race!</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2009:Gaia-292327</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:40:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2009/10/we-are-in-a-race</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;I blog and write on quite a few other sites.  Mostly paranormal in nature.  I&amp;#39;ve been a researcher of UFOlogy and the Paranormal fields (which I see as one phenomenon) for many years as some of you know.  I also am a philosopher and have learned quite a bit about myself and Self thanks in no small part to Soto Zen, Ken Wilber and Genpo Roshi Merzel.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Recently I had a powerful bit of insight concerning all of it.  I had been toying with the idea that all paranormal phenomena were one phenomenon for some time but I didn&amp;#39;t quite get the implications of that or how it would look to the general populace of our global nay, universal community.  I received this insight over the course of three deep meditation sessions in a row each lasting about two hours a piece.  Each time the same understanding of not knowing.  Each time the same resonance in the heart.  Each time, timeless and expansive.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So without further adieu, here is that realized and remembered insight or vision if you will.  May it resonate within all as it does in me...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My theory based on insight and almost 20 years of meditation and awakening.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where to begin...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Perhaps where it ends is best. The seeming increase in Unexplainable Phenomena is not that. The agitation that is increasing in the perceived world is not that. The fear of time running out lying deep inside the Mind of us all is real and it isn&amp;#39;t.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The fear of temporal loss is real because it is an expression of our collective Self. It is not real because it is based on nothing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Is that a covert and vague enough opening statement for you? Does it leave you asking what the hell I&amp;#39;m talking about? Does it leave you thinking that there is something to it but you can&amp;#39;t quite put your finger on it? Does it leave you feeling like I am a complete nut whack and haven&amp;#39;t a clue beyond the rambling babble emanating from this keyboard? Good. All are correct and all are false.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I will explain:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The perceived increase in events is just that a &amp;quot;perceived&amp;quot; increase in Paranormal Phenomena ranging from Ghost Experiences to UFO Sightings to Astral Projection to just plain Gestaltic Awakening or the &amp;quot;Duh!&amp;quot; factor as I like to call it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why is it only perceived? Because there is not an increase of events. Nothing more or less is happening than has always happened. Nothing more or less is there than has always been there. Then what is this sense of increase?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We are changing...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We collectively as a species are evolving to a point to where what is perceived is recognized eventually as what has been there all along. The Veil of Forgetfulness is thinning. We have forgotten our place in the whole. We have lost recognition of what we truly are. What did this?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Knowledge...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As soon as the Mind&amp;#39;s fallacies were entertained as real we blinded ourselves to what simply is. But we are beginning to remember as whole. We are beginning to recognize as a whole. We are beginning to see things as they truly are. We are beginning to realize that what is being seen, felt, heard, smelled and tasted is US or Self experiencing It&amp;#39;s Self. The Universe is seeing it&amp;#39;s Self through it&amp;#39;s creation and it is recognizing it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of course this recognition phase being experienced by us on Earth is not only being experienced on Earth or in this dimension. It&amp;#39;s pan dimensional. What we are seeing is seeing us the same way. What we are experiencing is experiencing us the same way. Things are thoughts and thoughts are things. It is remembering that it is us and we are it. We are all in pre-school about to graduate to kindergarten. This is good news!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Or is it?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Not all see. Not all are awakening. Not all know that they don&amp;#39;t know. Unfortunately, these are the ones who hold a lot of physical make believe power that is very influential to those in ignorance. Those that don&amp;#39;t have the catalysts to awakening or the recognition prevalent in their daily lives as they struggle not only against every perceived adversity but struggle just to exist. The more they struggle to exist at a physical level, the more they believe that that is all they are. A body. Nobody telling them and pointing out that there is only this and THEY ARE THAT!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Time is not running out. It appears to be slowing down. To a creep actually. However, our quickening at a collective level is speeding up. We are more and more awakening as a species every moment. Like a wildfire, the dawning of realization quickens it&amp;#39;s pace as it burns the Veil of Forgetfulness away from our collective psyche. Things are being revealed to us by us for us of us now, now and now. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the race?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The race is....will we awaken collectively enough before we destroy ourselves. We are at a cusp. Those in power that don&amp;#39;t see, resisting the catalysts rising up against those that don&amp;#39;t resist the catalysts, and see and awaken.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Time is slowing down. Coming to a dead stop. We are speeding up. You can almost hear the rush of the Veil being lifted. It would only but take the tiniest breath of genuine heart to blow away this veil of mind like a breeze to the wispiest of gossamer smoke, to bring All back into a stateless state of not knowing but BEing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is imperative that those that do remember and recognize, help in the most subtle on unconditionally compassionate and loving way those that do not to awaken. The Vow of the Bodhisattva. If we are to survive as a species at all this must happen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are living in four dimensions and ready to enter the fifth. Some of us already have.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1st Dimension:&lt;/strong&gt; Up and down&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2nd Dimension:&lt;/strong&gt; Side to side&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3rd Dimension:&lt;/strong&gt; Front and Back&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4th Dimension:&lt;/strong&gt; In and out&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The fourth dimension is problematic for us as a species. We&amp;#39;ve focused outwardly for so long trying to substantiate our surroundings thus trying to implement happiness by seeking eternity in the physical, that we let this distract us from the true path toward this end: the inside. This is dimensionless and infinite and it is in fact where all perceived external things are borned into believable existance.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In reality, we are out looking in. In delusion we think we are in looking out. Backwards. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please understand that I mean everything that I have stated in the most esoterically literal sense. But it is a lie. The fifth dimension we are entering is conceptually moot. It is the Isness, the Nondual Suchness of things. By my writing this, I have objectified that which is without concept. My words are a map. NOT the territory. &lt;strong&gt;Thanks Ken Wilber!! &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the long run, it doesn&amp;#39;t matter. WE exist collectively in so many other aspects and awarenesses. But if we are to survive as a species, we must die to ourselves so that we may live and BE...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Erik &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/insight" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'insight'"&gt;insight&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/awakening" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'awakening'"&gt;awakening&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/meditation" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'meditation'"&gt;meditation&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/paranormal" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'paranormal'"&gt;paranormal&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/philosophy" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'philosophy'"&gt;philosophy&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/UFOs" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'UFOs'"&gt;UFOs&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Ghosts" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Ghosts'"&gt;Ghosts&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="insight"/>
      <category term="awakening"/>
      <category term="meditation"/>
      <category term="paranormal"/>
      <category term="philosophy"/>
      <category term="UFOs"/>
      <category term="Ghosts"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Anybody have a Paranormal Experience they care to share?</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2009:Gaia-286892</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:50:24 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2009/9/anybody-have-a-paranormal-experience-they-care-to-share</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;                &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:448px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://bbg-aura.gaia.com/photos/54/531588/large/contactheaderbg.jpg" height="375" width="448" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;contactheaderbg&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_141991" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;I have created a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://paranormalexperiencer.blogspot.com" target="_blank"&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to do just that while taking a hardline look through a critical eye and open mind at these things and events as the human psyche evolves enough to finally witness what has been around it all along.&amp;nbsp; What a fantastic journey we are all on.&amp;nbsp; Nothing less than amazing.&amp;nbsp; Enjoy!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Cheers,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;br id="ze_clear_asset_286892" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/contact" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'contact'"&gt;contact&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/paranormal+experiencer" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'paranormal experiencer'"&gt;paranormal experiencer&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/astral" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'astral'"&gt;astral&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/ghost" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'ghost'"&gt;ghost&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/poltergeist" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'poltergeist'"&gt;poltergeist&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/disembodied+voices" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'disembodied voices'"&gt;disembodied voices&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/ufo" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'ufo'"&gt;ufo&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/alien+contact" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'alien contact'"&gt;alien contact&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="contact"/>
      <category term="paranormal experiencer"/>
      <category term="astral"/>
      <category term="ghost"/>
      <category term="poltergeist"/>
      <category term="disembodied voices"/>
      <category term="ufo"/>
      <category term="alien contact"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The Daily Bull:  From the Journal of Herkimer Shagnasty</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2009:Gaia-274504</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:51:23 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2009/6/the-daily-bull-from-the-journal-of-herkimer-shagnasty</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;So there I am, goin' down the Corridor of Death between Arcata and Eurtweeka, when all of the sudden I feel a nasty draft shootin' up my plastic pants' leg that is my Security Uniform.  The reason for it came soon enough as the doors of my little truck had just been blown off by some Highway Hog doin' about 80 with the whirlies goin' with no sirens to warn me to put on my seatbelt.  You ever had this happen?!  Cripes!  I mean, it's like those old ladies in the supermarket whenever there's a clearance sale on all of the soft foods and she thinks your making a beeline for the last box of Hungry Jack.  So I get outta the way and I'm lookin' ahead for whatever the crisis is when I see two other bewhirlied cruisers pulled over and the officers are just standing around having a joke and a smoke.  I mean, that's alright I guess and I should cut these guys a little slack 'cuz they're willing to take a bullet for me and all, but Jeepers Criminy, where's the damned emergency?  There was no evidence of an incident in any kind of obvious physicality to be seen.  No elephant carcass jammin' up the Southbound or a bicycle tied in a square knot around one of those u-cali-petus trees on the side of the road.  My tax dollars hard at work, I guess.  Huh.  So that old lady's now got her shopping cart up to my larnyx with the intent of further aggressive disembowlment by wheeled implement as she stares at me through bad frames and thick lenses while knitting her brow into a smouldering burlap sack.  Me being the courtly gentleman that I am, I then deftly try to make some sort of peaceable amends by yarding out about 10 feet of coupons from one of those automatic dispensers mounted on the shelf.  You seen these?  Amazing.  I need one of these mounted beside my toilet so's I can have hours of uninhibited fun wiping all manner of mustache on the face of that annoyingly sweet little teddy bear on those coupons of overly priced Great Northern Tissue.  Man, I hate that stupid little bear.  Anyhoo, she's now beaning me repeatedly about the body and head with a loaf of the local French and I'm now wishing that I had better restraint and a more confident command of carnal verbs.   Her objection to my previous attempt at kindness becomes totally clear and apparent however, as I notice the coupons I retrieved for her were for condoms.  What an idiot.  The French bread is now cleaning out my ear like a giant brillo Q-tip when I finally just give up and shove my own cart to the side in general disgust and wander over to the little cafe near the front and get a bad cup of Farmer Bros..  I then find a seat next to some kid with headphones who's texting on one of them cellphone dealies thinking that he wouldn't wanna talk.  Bad Idea.  But that's a story for another day...

Life is a Crap Shoot,

Herkimer Shagnasty 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Herkimer+Shagnasty" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Herkimer Shagnasty'"&gt;Herkimer Shagnasty&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/humor" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'humor'"&gt;humor&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/french+bread" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'french bread'"&gt;french bread&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/shopping" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'shopping'"&gt;shopping&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/driving" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'driving'"&gt;driving&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/police" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'police'"&gt;police&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/highway+hog" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'highway hog'"&gt;highway hog&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/q-tips" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'q-tips'"&gt;q-tips&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Farmer+Bros" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Farmer Bros'"&gt;Farmer Bros&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="Herkimer Shagnasty"/>
      <category term="humor"/>
      <category term="french bread"/>
      <category term="shopping"/>
      <category term="driving"/>
      <category term="police"/>
      <category term="highway hog"/>
      <category term="q-tips"/>
      <category term="Farmer Bros"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Check out the remodel!</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2009:Gaia-273504</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:24:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2009/6/check-out-the-remodel</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/?action=view&amp;amp;current=stillnessmandalamomentlogo1.jpg" title="stillnessmandalamomentlogo1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/stillnessmandalamomentlogo1.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="350" height="350" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And don&amp;#39;t forget to check out the new stuff in the store, too!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be well and be loved,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/one+moment+of+stillness" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'one moment of stillness'"&gt;one moment of stillness&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/digital+art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'digital art'"&gt;digital art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/omos" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'omos'"&gt;omos&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/omos+reiki" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'omos reiki'"&gt;omos reiki&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="one moment of stillness"/>
      <category term="digital art"/>
      <category term="omos"/>
      <category term="omos reiki"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>New Music Project In Progress!!</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2009:Gaia-272556</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2009 14:49:19 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2009/5/new_music_project_in_progress</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;Hey All!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am currently in the process of recording a meditative Native American Flute album called of course, One Moment Of Stillness to be sold at the OMOS store! It should be finished in a couple of months. There is a &lt;a href="http://www.humboldtmusic.com/webpage/index.cfm?Sid=4640&amp;amp;id=1930&amp;amp;page=SongDetail"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;free track&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/a&gt;from this CD available on &lt;a href="http://www.humboldtmusic.com/webpage/index.cfm?id=1930"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;my music site&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/a&gt;to download. I am looking to fill about 45 minutes to an hour with this kind of music. Very soothing. Very contemplative. Perfect for One Moment Of Stillness.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be well and be loved,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/contemplation" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'contemplation'"&gt;contemplation&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Erik+Stitt%27s+music" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Erik Stitt's music'"&gt;Erik Stitt's music&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/HumboldtMusic.com" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'HumboldtMusic.com'"&gt;HumboldtMusic.com&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/meditate" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'meditate'"&gt;meditate&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/meditation" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'meditation'"&gt;meditation&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/One+Moment+Of+Stillness" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'One Moment Of Stillness'"&gt;One Moment Of Stillness&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/One+Moment+Of+Stillness+Store" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'One Moment Of Stillness Store'"&gt;One Moment Of Stillness Store&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="contemplation"/>
      <category term="Erik Stitt's music"/>
      <category term="HumboldtMusic.com"/>
      <category term="meditate"/>
      <category term="meditation"/>
      <category term="One Moment Of Stillness"/>
      <category term="One Moment Of Stillness Store"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>One Moment Of Stillness...</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2009:Gaia-271043</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 00:35:27 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2009/5/one_moment_of_stillness</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/?action=view&amp;amp;current=onemomentofstillness.jpg" title="onemomentofstillness.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/onemomentofstillness.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="469" height="238" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Want to make a difference while &lt;em&gt;doing nothing&lt;/em&gt;?&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://onemomentofstillness.blogspot.com" target="_blank"&gt;Here&amp;#39;s&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; how you can do just that!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be well,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Erik&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/stillness" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'stillness'"&gt;stillness&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/in+the+moment" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'in the moment'"&gt;in the moment&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/meditation" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'meditation'"&gt;meditation&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/meditate" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'meditate'"&gt;meditate&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/quiet" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'quiet'"&gt;quiet&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/quietude" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'quietude'"&gt;quietude&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/silence" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'silence'"&gt;silence&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/sit" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'sit'"&gt;sit&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/sitting" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'sitting'"&gt;sitting&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/one+moment+of+stillness" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'one moment of stillness'"&gt;one moment of stillness&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="stillness"/>
      <category term="in the moment"/>
      <category term="meditation"/>
      <category term="meditate"/>
      <category term="quiet"/>
      <category term="quietude"/>
      <category term="silence"/>
      <category term="sit"/>
      <category term="sitting"/>
      <category term="one moment of stillness"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Look what five months can do!!</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-237423</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:50:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/11/look_what_five_months_can_do</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;Well, shoot!&amp;nbsp; It seems I always leave here real quiet like and then I storm back through the door after a long time missin&amp;#39; just so&amp;#39;s I can make a big entrance.&amp;nbsp; Ha!&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;m usually working on something big while I&amp;#39;m gone too, so there&amp;#39;s good reason.&amp;nbsp; Don&amp;#39;t worry, I always come back and share what I&amp;#39;ve learned!&amp;nbsp; So here&amp;#39;s what I&amp;#39;ve learned this time around:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;        &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:400px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/Erik5monthsprogress.jpg" height="300" width="400" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;If I can do this, so can YOU!&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_105634" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before Transformation Stats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blood pressure:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; 215 over 110&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bad cholesterol:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt; 298&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resting heart rate:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; 68 bpm&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mile time:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; 9:30&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After Transformation Stats&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blood pressure:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; 115 over 65&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bad cholesterol:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; 87&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Resting heart rate:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; 44 bpm&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mile time:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; 6:18&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why did I do this, you may ask?&amp;nbsp; The answer is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/redwoodjedi/" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; I had a close scare there and I was not going to let it dictate how or why I lived the rest of my days.&amp;nbsp; So I took complete control of my life and destiny and made a much more couragious warrior to handle the Journey of No Destination with gusto, humility, perseverance and discipline.&amp;nbsp; My path is the light shining from inside me.&amp;nbsp; I go only there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I will answer any questions should there be any, happily.&amp;nbsp; I missed you all!&amp;nbsp; almost permanently!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Free and Be your best Self!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;eBuzz&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_asset_237423" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/fitness" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'fitness'"&gt;fitness&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Transformation" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Transformation'"&gt;Transformation&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/health" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'health'"&gt;health&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/eBuzz" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'eBuzz'"&gt;eBuzz&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/eBuff%3F%21" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'eBuff?!'"&gt;eBuff?!&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="fitness"/>
      <category term="Transformation"/>
      <category term="health"/>
      <category term="eBuzz"/>
      <category term="eBuff?!"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Cowboy Waistland:  Done!</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-201207</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:08:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/6/cowboy_waistland_done</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;Two months to the day into it and it is finished.&amp;nbsp; Enjoy!&amp;nbsp; You can read more about this piece &lt;a href="http://leadslinger.blogspot.com" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ride easy,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;br /&gt;                &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:480px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/cowboywaistland-1.jpg" height="594" width="480" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;Cowboy Waistland - E. D. Stitt - Copyright 2008&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_87529" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_asset_201207" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/E.+D.+Stitt+art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'E. D. Stitt art'"&gt;E. D. Stitt art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/photoreal+art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'photoreal art'"&gt;photoreal art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/pencil" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'pencil'"&gt;pencil&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/charcoal" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'charcoal'"&gt;charcoal&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/graphite" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'graphite'"&gt;graphite&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'art'"&gt;art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/southwest+art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'southwest art'"&gt;southwest art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/leadslinger" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'leadslinger'"&gt;leadslinger&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Erik+Stitt" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Erik Stitt'"&gt;Erik Stitt&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="E. D. Stitt art"/>
      <category term="photoreal art"/>
      <category term="pencil"/>
      <category term="charcoal"/>
      <category term="graphite"/>
      <category term="art"/>
      <category term="southwest art"/>
      <category term="leadslinger"/>
      <category term="Erik Stitt"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>7 hours further along</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-199545</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:42:15 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/6/7_hours_further_along</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;Today&amp;#39;s progress sees an almost complete frame and a title:&amp;nbsp; Cowboy Waistland&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nice and punny don&amp;#39;t you think?&lt;br /&gt;        &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:480px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/Belts4.jpg" height="575" width="480" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;Cowboy Waistland thus far at week 6&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_86732" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ride easy,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;br id="ze_clear_asset_199545" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/E.+D.+Stitt+Art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'E. D. Stitt Art'"&gt;E. D. Stitt Art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/pencil" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'pencil'"&gt;pencil&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/charcoal" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'charcoal'"&gt;charcoal&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/graphite" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'graphite'"&gt;graphite&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/photorealistic+drawing" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'photorealistic drawing'"&gt;photorealistic drawing&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="E. D. Stitt Art"/>
      <category term="pencil"/>
      <category term="charcoal"/>
      <category term="graphite"/>
      <category term="photorealistic drawing"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Down to the last quarter!</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-199288</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:38:30 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/6/down_to_the_last_quarter</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;Well 11 hours of drawing today really yielded some dang results!&amp;nbsp; Yeehaw.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I finished the dern third buckle which is graphite and all else done today is in charcoal.&amp;nbsp; Lot&amp;#39;s and lot&amp;#39;s of crumbly nerve racking charcoal.....eep!&lt;br /&gt;        &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:480px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/belts3-1.jpg" height="570" width="480" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;Almost to the surprise ending!&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_86628" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ride easy, love all critters,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;br id="ze_clear_asset_199288" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/E.+D.+Stitt+Art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'E. D. Stitt Art'"&gt;E. D. Stitt Art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/pencil" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'pencil'"&gt;pencil&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/charcoal" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'charcoal'"&gt;charcoal&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/graphite" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'graphite'"&gt;graphite&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/photorealistic+drawing" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'photorealistic drawing'"&gt;photorealistic drawing&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="E. D. Stitt Art"/>
      <category term="pencil"/>
      <category term="charcoal"/>
      <category term="graphite"/>
      <category term="photorealistic drawing"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>A little more done.</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-198963</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:11:50 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/6/a_little_more_done</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;        &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:300px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/belts3.jpg" height="224" width="300" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;Almost three down!&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_86522" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;I almost finished the third buckle today using the same process as described in yesterday&amp;#39;s update.&amp;nbsp; &amp;gt;Whew!&amp;lt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ride easy,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_asset_198963" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/pencil" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'pencil'"&gt;pencil&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/charcoal" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'charcoal'"&gt;charcoal&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/graphite" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'graphite'"&gt;graphite&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/photorealistic+drawing" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'photorealistic drawing'"&gt;photorealistic drawing&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/E.+D.+Stitt+Art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'E. D. Stitt Art'"&gt;E. D. Stitt Art&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="pencil"/>
      <category term="charcoal"/>
      <category term="graphite"/>
      <category term="photorealistic drawing"/>
      <category term="E. D. Stitt Art"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>WIP on my belts rendering</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-198727</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:17:05 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/6/wip_on_my_belts_rendering</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;        &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:440px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/belts2.jpg" height="585" width="440" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;6.5 hours more work today&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_86441" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;I&amp;#39;ve got the third buckle half done and worked the background into it a bit.&amp;nbsp; the area finished today is about an inch and a half square.&amp;nbsp; Very tedious.&amp;nbsp; Simultaneously nerve racking and gratifying.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ride easy and love all critters,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;br id="ze_clear_asset_198727" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/E.+D.+Stitt+Art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'E. D. Stitt Art'"&gt;E. D. Stitt Art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/pencil" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'pencil'"&gt;pencil&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/charcoal" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'charcoal'"&gt;charcoal&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/graphite" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'graphite'"&gt;graphite&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/photorealistic+drawing" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'photorealistic drawing'"&gt;photorealistic drawing&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="E. D. Stitt Art"/>
      <category term="pencil"/>
      <category term="charcoal"/>
      <category term="graphite"/>
      <category term="photorealistic drawing"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Better pics of my art</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-197798</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:06:44 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/6/better_pics_of_my_art</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;Here are some better pictures of my graphite and charcoal renderings.&amp;nbsp; It takes me anywhere from a month and a half to almost three months to complete one sometimes.&amp;nbsp; &amp;gt;Whew!&amp;lt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;                                                                                        &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:380px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/santaweb2.jpg" height="520" width="380" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;Santa Fe Sun - E. D. Stitt - Copyright 2008&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_86978" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;                              This one is called Santa Fe Sun.&amp;nbsp; It is done on 11 x 14 Strathmore medium tooth with graphite.&amp;nbsp; 3 months to complete.&lt;br /&gt;                                                                                        &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:380px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/TheFiercestHeartsweb2.jpg" height="225" width="380" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;The Fiercest Hearts - E. D. Stitt - Copyright 2007&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_86979" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;                              This one is called The Fiercest Hearts.&amp;nbsp; It is done on 11 x 14 Strathmore medium tooth with graphite.&lt;br /&gt;                                                                                        &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:380px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/KeepinItRealweb2.jpg" height="520" width="380" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;Keepin' It Real - E. D. Stitt - Copyright 2008&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_86980" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;                              This is a self portrait done in graphite on 11 x 14 Strathmore medium.&lt;br /&gt;                                                                                        &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: none; "&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:277px;float:none"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j273/Redwoodjedi/belts.jpg" height="320" width="277" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;5 weeks of Graphite and Charcoal.&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_86038" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;Trying something new with the combination of Charcoal and Graphite.&amp;nbsp; I am enamored with the results thus far at five weeks in.&amp;nbsp; I am using a photorealistic technique called Tromp L&amp;#39;oeil or Decieve the Eye.&amp;nbsp; I will post Work in Progress.&lt;br /&gt;I hope y&amp;#39;all enjoy these.&amp;nbsp; Take note that my work is strictly copyrighted.&amp;nbsp; I appreciate the respect.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ride Easy and be kind to critters,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;br id="ze_clear_asset_197798" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'art'"&gt;art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/graphite" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'graphite'"&gt;graphite&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/charcoal" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'charcoal'"&gt;charcoal&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/drawing" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'drawing'"&gt;drawing&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/trompe+l%27oeil" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'trompe l'oeil'"&gt;trompe l'oeil&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/E.D.+Stitt+Art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'E.D. Stitt Art'"&gt;E.D. Stitt Art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/pencil" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'pencil'"&gt;pencil&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="art"/>
      <category term="graphite"/>
      <category term="charcoal"/>
      <category term="drawing"/>
      <category term="trompe l'oeil"/>
      <category term="E.D. Stitt Art"/>
      <category term="pencil"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Hi Y'all!</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-190812</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 17 May 2008 22:07:41 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/5/hi_yall</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;How&amp;#39;ve y&amp;#39;all been?&amp;nbsp; Hmm?&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;ve been pert damn near perfect myself, thank you.&amp;nbsp; Things have been busy as H-E- double hockey sticks around my joint so internet time is scarce.&amp;nbsp; I have some news for you.&lt;br /&gt;                &lt;div class="asset_container" style="float: left; width:460px"&gt;          &lt;div class="asset_holding" style="width:440px;float:left"&gt;            &lt;img src="http://bbg-aura.gaia.com/photos/38/375506/large/drawcollage.jpg" height="234" width="440" /&gt;            &lt;div class="asset_caption"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;          &lt;/div&gt;        &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_83064" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; WRI is no longer a functioning entity.&amp;nbsp; It has been disbanded.&amp;nbsp; Why?&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://www.alcatraz.nu/free_alcatraz/A_New_Alcatraz.html" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Because these folks beat me to the Vision by about 30 years&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; It&amp;#39;s almost building for building and function for function.&amp;nbsp; It took a while to let the shock of this settle in.&amp;nbsp; Not for egoic reasons either.&amp;nbsp; I had been pouring so much energy into this thing for so long, to suddenly stop was a bizarre experience.&amp;nbsp; If this Vision still sounds good to y&amp;#39;all, please click the link above and show your support.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I needed something creative to blast my energy into.&amp;nbsp; It just doesn&amp;#39;t shut off.&amp;nbsp; It reroutes.&amp;nbsp; And if I don&amp;#39;t consciously direct it, well, something could happen.&amp;nbsp; Something bad....(heh, heh, heh...)&amp;nbsp; So as some of you know, I have been an artist all of my life.&amp;nbsp; My Ma had both my Brother and I drawing before we could write.&amp;nbsp; I had pencils and paints in my hands by 3 whether I liked it or not.&amp;nbsp; And believe me, there was a time or two I didn&amp;#39;t like it.&amp;nbsp; So what do I do?&amp;nbsp; If you look at the poor quality photos above, you will see that I do photo-real renderings in graphite (pencil) of Cowboys, Indians and the Southwest Culture in general.&amp;nbsp; My hero in this medium is artist Robert &amp;quot;Shoofly&amp;quot; Shufelt.&amp;nbsp; He is amazing.&amp;nbsp; I hope to be that accomplished someday.&amp;nbsp; Western culture is always my muse seemingly.&amp;nbsp; I am in the process of building up a decent body of work to float through the gallery circuit and county fair.&amp;nbsp; I have a lot of catching up to do to accomplish what my Ma did when she still walked this earth.&amp;nbsp; All I can do is my best and my best I will do.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;A gentle reality to y&amp;#39;all,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Erik&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br id="ze_clear_asset_190812" class="ze_clear" style="clear:both"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/WRI+kaput" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'WRI kaput'"&gt;WRI kaput&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'art'"&gt;art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/western+art" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'western art'"&gt;western art&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/pencil+renderings" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'pencil renderings'"&gt;pencil renderings&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Robert+Shufelt" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Robert Shufelt'"&gt;Robert Shufelt&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Shoofly" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Shoofly'"&gt;Shoofly&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="WRI kaput"/>
      <category term="art"/>
      <category term="western art"/>
      <category term="pencil renderings"/>
      <category term="Robert Shufelt"/>
      <category term="Shoofly"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>eBuzz on a busy Siesta for a bit...</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-176874</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:21:52 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/ebuzz_on_a_busy_siesta_for_a_bit</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;While the Wife and the youngest daughter run willy-nilly all over Germany and Italy until the 4th, I&amp;#39;ll be busy at home with the Teen Freak older Daughter ferrying her smart mouth around to Girlfriends&amp;#39; houses, soccer practice, the mall, Borders, Starbucks, soccer games, drive-bys of the Boyfriend&amp;#39;s house(grrrrrrrr), food runs(GAAAAWWWDDD!! the food runs), the Supermarket, McDonald&amp;#39;s, Taco Bell, the Skating Rink, the Movie Theater, and Oh!&amp;nbsp; I almost forgot.&amp;nbsp; The Sporting Goods Store (Fer me!) to get three more of everything that I already have!&amp;nbsp; So anyhoo, I&amp;#39;ll be a bit tied up for a couple weeks.&amp;nbsp; I will try to check in every now and again.&amp;nbsp; Don&amp;#39;t fret and fritter.&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;ll be back.&amp;nbsp; Like a bad penny, I&amp;#39;ll be back.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Whewie!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Buzz&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;P.S.&amp;nbsp; If you all got a dirty computer screen mucked up with fingerprints, mocha spurts and potato chip grease, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://linein.org/media/screencleaner.swf" target="_blank"&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;ll wash it for free!!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Wife+gone" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Wife gone'"&gt;Wife gone&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Daughter+gone" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Daughter gone'"&gt;Daughter gone&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Teen+Freak+here" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Teen Freak here'"&gt;Teen Freak here&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Me+here" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Me here'"&gt;Me here&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/%2Asniff%2A" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged '*sniff*'"&gt;*sniff*&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/%2Asnigget%2A" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged '*snigget*'"&gt;*snigget*&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/%2Asnivel%2A" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged '*snivel*'"&gt;*snivel*&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'"&gt;waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="Wife gone"/>
      <category term="Daughter gone"/>
      <category term="Teen Freak here"/>
      <category term="Me here"/>
      <category term="*sniff*"/>
      <category term="*snigget*"/>
      <category term="*snivel*"/>
      <category term="waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>eBuzz'z Ten Tings ta do on St. Patty's Day!</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-174806</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:43:46 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/ebuzzz_ten_tings_ta_do_on_st_pattys_day</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Well hello mates!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; As you all well know, today is like Christmas to me and I just wanted to make sure you were celebratin&amp;#39; it proper, if you were inclined to that is.&amp;nbsp; So here&amp;#39;s a shart list of tings ta do taday ta shoo yar Irish Spirit.&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;Pinch all da non greenies you can find!&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Catch leprechauns and steal da buggers&amp;#39; gold!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Look far far leaf clovars and give &amp;#39;em to yar Bonnie one!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Make shooer to get da Karned Beef started urly in da day so ya doon&amp;#39;t mess it oop later when yar pessy on Guinness!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Maybe be brave enoof to try a kar boomb ( A pint of Guinness with a shot of Jameson and a shot of Bailey&amp;#39;s).&amp;nbsp; Tastes like a rootbeer float!&amp;nbsp; You&amp;#39;ll be floatin&amp;#39; far shooer ya drink enoof Laddy (ar Lassy!) !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Be shooer to join in a Session at da pub!&amp;nbsp; Bring a Faedog or a Fiddle or Uillean Pipes!&amp;nbsp; It&amp;#39;s great fun!&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;7)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Have a Guinness of kars!&amp;nbsp; Ar a nice Killians!&amp;nbsp; Any ting from da River Liffey!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;8)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Fesh and Cheeps is good far dose hoo doon&amp;#39;t want da Karned Beef.&amp;nbsp; Doon&amp;#39;t farget da Malt Vinegar!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;9)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Feend a good friend ta hang at da pub with.&amp;nbsp; Yar gonna need dat ride hoom later!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; And moost of all, doon&amp;#39;t farget ta tank da lovely St. Patty hisself far dis glarious day moost high!&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Dat&amp;#39;s da basic suggestions far &amp;#39;avin&amp;#39; a Bonnie Wee time taday!&amp;nbsp; Drink Responsibly now and &amp;#39;ave a Happy St. Patty&amp;#39;s!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Slainte Mhat!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;eBuzz&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/St.+Patty%27s+Day" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'St. Patty's Day'"&gt;St. Patty's Day&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/celebratin%27+Irish+stylee" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'celebratin' Irish stylee'"&gt;celebratin' Irish stylee&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Guinness" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Guinness'"&gt;Guinness&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Jameson" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Jameson'"&gt;Jameson&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Bailey%27s+and+Cream" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Bailey's and Cream'"&gt;Bailey's and Cream&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Killian%27s+Red" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Killian's Red'"&gt;Killian's Red&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Ireland" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Ireland'"&gt;Ireland&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/sessions" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'sessions'"&gt;sessions&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Slainte" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Slainte'"&gt;Slainte&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Slainte+Mhat" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Slainte Mhat'"&gt;Slainte Mhat&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="St. Patty's Day"/>
      <category term="celebratin' Irish stylee"/>
      <category term="Guinness"/>
      <category term="Jameson"/>
      <category term="Bailey's and Cream"/>
      <category term="Killian's Red"/>
      <category term="Ireland"/>
      <category term="sessions"/>
      <category term="Slainte"/>
      <category term="Slainte Mhat"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The World Rave International Model Community and Manifesto</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-171125</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:05:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/the_world_rave_international_model_community_and_manifesto</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; As of Tuesday&lt;/em&gt;, 28JAN08, 8:30am, while dealing with off and on fits of depression, I realized the doable framework for an organization that will transform the world!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I have chosen the name of World Rave International as it&amp;#39;s primary function from an outside observation as an interactive, co-created dance and concert in a specifically designed and built arena. So in the next few paragraphs I will describe the intention, general design and outcome by way of an Executive Summary. From that point I will flesh out the details of the design, performance and potential locations of the facilities, as I would like to see ten such facilities built worldwide.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; This Vision for world change is the result of a dream and a series of smaller visions I have had for a little over a decade now. It comes about by way of meditation, the study of Integral Philosophy and sound boarding with other friends who are also seemingly inspired to see Humanity grow in this direction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; It is my hope and dream to see all of Humanity benefit in every level of existence from this Vision.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; So without further adieu, I present to you the&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;World Rave International Model Community.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;World Rave International Executive SummaryThe Goal&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; To transform and enlighten up to 1,000,000 people a month by way of learning the best of the best of the world&amp;#39;s healing techniques, transformative traditions and arts and applying this knowledge and practice in a massive multimedia co-created and interactive event.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can this happen?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; By building a specifically designed facility; a model sustainable community based on the smaller concepts of Communes and Ashrams. This sustainable community would be capable of housing, feeding, educating, transforming and enlightening up to 100,000 people a month. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With each individual having a specific program or module designed for them based on their current knowledge base, beliefs, and cultural understanding, they can then be given the tools and techniques to implement change and growth from within.&lt;/p&gt;This new open awareness is then applied at the end of their retreat at a multimedia mega arena where they consciously use their now expanded minds and new found knowledge to co-create an event of epic proportions the likes of which have never been witnessed before by human eyes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Specifics: Day 1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Through an online and paper application process, an individual would fill out their necessary information i.e., a questionnaire specifically designed to gather information on their interests, beliefs, level of education, cultural understanding and goals. This would then be processed through a variety of techniques ranging from a simple, when obvious, &amp;quot;plug in and go&amp;quot; method to even the art of divination, designed to create a Learning Module for their month long retreat here at WRI.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; From this point forward I will refer to this individual as you, to create a sense of intimacy and imaginative personal journey. OK?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You could be enrolled into a Reiki Class in addition to perhaps a Zen Big Mind Course as well as some Integral Lifestyle Courses as outlined by Ken Wilber and other such Teachers of note.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; After receiving your Workshop Module, you would be given a schedule, a key card to your living quarters and a map of the facility that would show you classroom locations, conscious vendor locations, indoor and outdoor courtyards for hanging out and meeting new folks such as yourself, locations of WRI Shuttle Stops as the Center is very large (think in terms of Disneyworld), and various restaurant locations serving the world&amp;#39;s most consciously prepared dishes.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Next you are politely ushered onto a shuttle going to your living quarters for the week. While riding you may notice the unique, unobtrusive architecture of the buildings that seemingly grow from the Earth itself, or maybe you see chefs from the various assorted cafes picking the day&amp;#39;s herbs, spices, fruit and vegetables from one of the lovingly tended organic gardens that seem to overtake the grounds everywhere, and yet again maybe you notice the diversity of cultures that like yourself, are here for a mega-transformation into someone who is previously unbeknownst to themselves, a realized whole BEing of loving-kindness; all encompassing and fully awakened.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Once in your room, you notice that your schedule is again posted digitally on the wall and that you have a few hours to meander about and get acquainted with the gorgeous surroundings before the evening&amp;#39;s Orientation Dinner and Welcome.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You step out of your living quarters which is a consciously built Earthship design, into a courtyard or pathway-filled organic garden, functional on many levels, and chat with others also on a unique journey like none taken before. Maybe you go for a cup of organic coffee sold by the Center&amp;#39;s many conscious vendors of fair trade goodies and have a chat with a new found friend or partner. Magic is bound to happen at so many levels of experience at a facility of this nature. Now, after exploring and visiting, it is time for dinner.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; At the Orientation Dinner you will be seated amongst noted faculty, entertainers, philosophers and staff. A welcoming atmosphere and energy has been lovingly created for you and it purveys a sumptuously laid out banquet of consciously prepared entrees and beverages.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You will speak to and hobnob with the world&amp;#39;s most noted and leading authorities on personal transformation, alternative healing practices, music, art, sustainable living, and integrated fitness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The first evening culminates in a welcoming talk from various staff and an introduction to the Center&amp;#39;s faculty and entertainers for the week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You now have an inkling of a sense of the enormous journey in store for you the scope and breadth of which leave you breathless and mouth agog!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Now you are shuttled back to your living quarters for a good night&amp;#39;s sleep and ready to begin your exciting curriculum for the week!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Day 2 through 27&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; After you have awaken, you are shuttled to a Cafe of your choice for a wonderful breakfast that you ordered in advance from the same digital touch screen that showed you your schedule in your living quarters. Once you have unhurriedly finished your breakfast, you are then shuttled to your first class in the Main Learning Facility. Here you will begin your day doing introspective visualization, guided meditation, breath work, and integrated fitness. You are now physically, mentally and spiritually prepared to start your first course on your Learning Module.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You may notice that the classroom environment is very organic and arranged using Feng Shui and other elementally based energy placement systems; each unique and specifically suited to fit the subject of learning. You may be in a round, adobe and stone room with walls laced with vining plants appropriate for learning Yoga, Reiki, Swedish Massage or other hands on healing techniques as you lie or sit on comfy mats and cushions. Or you may well find yourself in a comfortable chair in a fan or shell shaped lecture hall tiered for the best visual convenience as you watch and listen to your instructor both on the stage below and on the large screen in the background, speaking on such topics as affordable and viable Sustainable Living techniques or Integral Philosophy. Meditation rooms are also built specifically to enhance the learning of Big Mind Meditation, Dzogchen, Vipasanna, Qi Gong, or Tai Chi.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Your classroom time will be divided by two other meal times to comprise a four meal eating schedule to keep your metabolism humming and your energy high throughout your month here at WRI.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; After five days of just such a learning and living regimen, you begin to feel light, large and expansive. You have by now been given the tools to transform and sustain you life, your mind and your heart in ways never imagined. But we are not quite finished with you yet. You have one final class to attend......All together!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The energy that you have spent all month working so hard to build up is really vibrating and buzzing now and you almost feel too small for your corporeal body. That energy wants to expand, flow and connect to something else to bring it full circle. Why not give to every ONE?!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Enter the Arena...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day 28, The Arena&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You have been allowed to sleep in today. You needed a good long rest and you&amp;#39;ll need to tap into that spiritual energy you have been building up starting later this afternoon. In the meantime you can walk around the facility at your leisure, shop, hook up with your new friends and partners, mingle with staff or just be lazy and soak in the abundant energy in a sunny courtyard. Be sure to drink plenty of wholesome rejuvenating juices and fluids today and remember to eat a couple of nice energizing light meals. You will need them by 4:30 pm along with comfortable, loose clothing and your dancing shoes, because you are about to unleash you power and reveal your true nature! You are going to laugh long and loud and you are also going to cry deeply intense sobbing tears of joy and hug anything with a pulse. You will not want this day to end, and with your new Life Tools and Awakened Nature, it won&amp;#39;t have to!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The shuttle arrives to pick you up and you are about to experience a night out like you have never experienced before.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You may have noticed that in the center of your WRI facility is a massive dome-like structure. Some of you, depending on your courses, may have been underneath it by walking the Center&amp;#39;s on-site Meditation Labyrinth with it&amp;#39;s scenic bench stops, fountains and most notably, the giant perfect crystals; all seven of them, each representing the 7 Chakras and each glowing in it&amp;#39;s appropriate color. But no one has been inside the dome yet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Surrounding the dome is a number of entrances, each with it&amp;#39;s own colored archway. When you first came to WRI, you were given a ticket with a colored stub. You have that ticket on you now.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The shuttle has brought you to your ticket&amp;#39;s color coordinated entrance. As you walk into this entrance you may begin to realize that the totality of your transformation this week is about to begin and culminate here in this building. You are a little nervous and excited not knowing what to expect. All of the tools given to you, all of the learned techniques, the energy you have built up through meditation and conscious eating, literally everything you&amp;#39;ve experienced thus far has been imbued with pure Light and Love from the ground up!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You now approach a kiosk where your ticket is exchanged for a small drum, rattle or shaker. You walk through the doors past the kiosk and enter an Arena the size of which steals your breath away. You realize instantly that from the outside you haven&amp;#39;t even seen half of this structure&amp;#39;s enormity as it is now quite obvious that over half of the building is built into the very Earth itself. You are in a Giant Womb, in the belly of Our Blessed Mother getting ready to be born anew, whole and infinite!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You now hear wonderful music from speakers embedded seemingly everywhere as you walk to your seat on your Tier Ring. You notice that your seat is on a tier approximately ten feet wide and that it circles the entire circumference of your level in an Arena that is a quarter mile wide! Your tier or terrace is one of many progressive terraces that seem to go all the way to the top of the 20 story dome.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Your eyes now gaze upon an enormous, round, platformed stage in the very center. You also note that it is slowly turning. A magnificent feat for a stage about 75 yards wide! Another eight stories above the stage is an even larger saucer-shaped armature of multimedia electronica and the Operators House. It is known affectionately as the World Rave Mothership. This armature is loaded to the hilt with state of the art projection, sound and lighting equipment arranged like never seen before. But that is not the half of it. Hanging from one side of this armature that is spinning at the same rate of rotation as the stage below, is an intricate nozzle system which showers a fine aromatherapy mist scented with the smell of Nag Champa, Sandalwood or Patchouli or perhaps Lavender. This curtain of scented and very dense mist falls to the floor just to the outside of the stage. Projected on this mist curtain which is actually a large screen, you notice a constant array of film imagery and interactive still photography three to four stories tall. Just imagine the finest photography and film of the best scenery Nature has to offer (think Baraka meets Carl Sagan&amp;#39;s Cosmos) choreographed to some of the most beautiful and conscious music composed anywhere!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Imagine the likes of Peter Gabriel, Afro Celt Sound System, The Crystal Method, Enya, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and R. Carlos Nakai simultaneously performing while surrounded by the world&amp;#39;s most beautiful dancing traditions urging you to fold up your seat and slide it on it&amp;lsquo;s own track back under the terrace behind you and dance with them. Imagine! And what&amp;#39;s that instrument you are holding for? Your seating is the same color as the ticket. On the armature above the stage rhythmically coordinated lights of your ticket color flash in a sequence for you to play, allowing you and all the others around you to co-create this multimedia interactive experience!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You are now fully involved in an event that will seem to last only minutes but will in fact take hours. You are consciously using every tool of energy creation and manifestation taught to you this month. You are co-creating with 100, 000 others from every creed, color, race, faith and walk of the planet Earth! Look upon all of your Self in full recognition and see your Original Face. You are dancing on hallowed ground!!! Welcome to the World Rave International experience!! You are awake, alive and consciously creating anew as never experienced. You are home. Always have been.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;Availability&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; From a humanitarian viewpoint, this facility&amp;#39;s programs would be made available to virtually every sentient BEing that is drawn by their heart to learn, grow and realize their true nature and fullest potential.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; For those who cannot afford the reasonable tuition, there will be fully endorsed scholarship and grant programs available. Taking courses at a WRI Center would also translate into earned credits at noted progressive learning institutions such as JFK University.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; For those who cannot afford the tuition still, notices and flyers would be posted in advance in the surrounding communities with a schedule of times and pick-up points stating that WRI will for one week, house, feed, educate, transform and enlighten you with complete anonymity and equanimity regarding your student status. A fleet of busses would be dispatched to pick up those who would desire such an opportunity for an education and transformation of this magnitude. Space would be set aside at the Center for just such purposes based on demographic studies of the immediate region.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Once your program of courses has been completed, you will receive complete certification, a DVD of your experience and a paper stating your University Level Earned Credits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Locations&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Think of the naturally occurring Energy Centers around the Earth. The likes of Amesbury, England - Sedona, Arizona - Shasta, California - Ayers Rock, Australia - Dharamsala, India and Vancouver Island, British Columbia come to mind perhaps.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; These natural power houses of Cosmic Energy seem an ideal for locations of Centers of this type, function and magnitude. People flock to these locations en masse seeking the ethereal, wisdom and illumination or are drawn to them for their magnificent beauty with no more understanding as to why they feel compelled to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; A WRI Center structurally would only serve to reflect and enhance what is already there and energetically magnify what is coming from it. Humanity would naturally reap the benefits at all levels of BEing from just such a facility. Clients would leave in awe, humbled and wholly realized by their co-created and interactive experience.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The structural appearance of each Center would greatly differ from location to location; each uniquely suited and built to emulate and magnify in every way, what is already stunning and natural beauty. From the ground and perhaps only a half mile away, the facility itself would simply look like part of the surrounding landscape. From an aerial vantage point, each location would resemble sacred symbology or some of the most poignant and inspiring crop circles that have ever occurred in our time. Perhaps as an aside, these conceptually may well indeed be the designs and planned layouts of Centers for learning and growth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The Shasta, California Center may have architecture seemingly giving an emulative nod of beauty oriented recognition to the majesty of Mount Shasta herself. Likewise the structures at the Sedona and Ayers Rock Centers would echo the red rock beauty of those locations.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The creative palette for each Center&amp;#39;s unique appearance is only limited by the imagination.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The curriculum of each facility however, would be the same throughout the world. Every Center would bring the promise of transformation and the means and tools to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Every square inch of each center would be built consciously with a green ethic from the ground up. Like the organization itself, it would be built on the fiery and inspiring energy that is held firmly in all of the conscious hearts that brought it&amp;#39;s Vision to the table. The Centers themselves seemingly a living, breathing and pulsing entity alive, awake and wholly realized. Such is the scope, depth and breadth of this the largest undertaking by a globally and universally diverse humanity. Such is the heart of World Rave International.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thank You and Blessings,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;Erik Stitt Co-founder and Dream Merchant&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/WRI" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'WRI'"&gt;WRI&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/World+Rave+International" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'World Rave International'"&gt;World Rave International&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Manifesto" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Manifesto'"&gt;Manifesto&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Model+Community" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Model Community'"&gt;Model Community&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/CHANGE+THE+WORLD%21" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'CHANGE THE WORLD!'"&gt;CHANGE THE WORLD!&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Global+Community" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Global Community'"&gt;Global Community&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Love" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Love'"&gt;Love&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/co-creation" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'co-creation'"&gt;co-creation&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/I-I" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'I-I'"&gt;I-I&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/I+AM" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'I AM'"&gt;I AM&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/transformation" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'transformation'"&gt;transformation&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="WRI"/>
      <category term="World Rave International"/>
      <category term="Manifesto"/>
      <category term="Model Community"/>
      <category term="CHANGE THE WORLD!"/>
      <category term="Global Community"/>
      <category term="Love"/>
      <category term="co-creation"/>
      <category term="I-I"/>
      <category term="I AM"/>
      <category term="transformation"/>
      <category term="enlightenment"/>
      <category term="Erik Stitt"/>
      <category term="Kelly Cookson"/>
      <category term="Stuart Peterson"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>So what's goin' on at WRI?!!</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-170856</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:12:16 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/so_whats_goin_on_at_wri</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hey Ravers!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Things are going slow but steady here at WRI. Everything is going forward and that is nice. We haven&amp;#39;t had any backtracking as of yet and I don&amp;#39;t anticipate anything of the like in the future. Spirit is really using us to our fullest potential so long as we stay open and receptive. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By now you are all familiar with the Arena Scene that is described below. What you don&amp;#39;t know is that this is only the last half of the last day!! Whuh? That&amp;#39;s right. The last half of the last day after a retreat that you have taken that can last anywhere&amp;#39;s from two weeks to a month. Uh-oh, I&amp;#39;ve let the cat outta the bag. Let&amp;#39;s play a little creative imagery game for a bit. I need you to use your imagination for this.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Imagine a facility that is a model sustainable community in every way. A facility that&lt;br /&gt;can house, feed, educate, transform and enlighten up to 100, 000 people a month. &lt;br /&gt;Imagine that in this facility you can learn the best of the best of the World&amp;#39;s &lt;br /&gt;transformative practices, the best of the best of the World&amp;#39;s alternative healing&lt;br /&gt;methods, affordable, viable and immediately applicable Sustainable Living techniques &lt;br /&gt;and integrated fitness programs designed to exercise simultaneously the Mind, Body and&lt;br /&gt;Spirit. And after you have learned and practiced all of the tools and techniques given&lt;br /&gt;to you in that period of time, they are then applied in real time in a real setting by having&lt;br /&gt;you and 99, 999 other people co-create and interact in the WRI Arena for the &lt;br /&gt;Mega Concert and Rave.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now imagine ten such facilities built strategically in some of the most beautiful and&lt;br /&gt;serene settings on the planet with an abundance of naturally occurring energy harnessed,&lt;br /&gt;amplified and magnified by YOU!!! Imagine up to 1,000,000 people a month awakening. &lt;br /&gt;Awakening to the Now. Awakening to their Original Face. Awakening to the Eternal&lt;br /&gt;Moment. Awakening to their SELF.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Imagine...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So what are we specifically doing right now to make this happen? I&amp;#39;m glad you asked! Allow me to break it down for you. It is still pretty much the three of us (Kelly, Stuart and I) that are currently handling things. We are starting to take on other Visionaries which are always valuable. Kelly is still in the process of hiring business personnel and more are needed so if you are at all interested, please get in touch with her! As it is now, it goes like this,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kelly&lt;/strong&gt; - Is busy getting licensing in order and handling the financial end of things as well as setting up accounts and organizing events through her extensive and valuable list of contacts. *Whew!*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stuart&lt;/strong&gt; - This guy is an amazing powerhouse of calming and healing energy. He currently has the task of holding space for Kelly and I so that we can do our jobs as unhindered as possible and so far, I gotta tell ya&amp;#39; he&amp;#39;s doing a damn fine job of it. Stuey is also making things happen in Arizona where he currently resides with his equally beautiful significant other.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Me&lt;/strong&gt; - Well let&amp;#39;s see....I have the task of taking all of the stuff from Visionary in-head format and converting it to a visual and readable 2D format. However, I have chosen (or should I say that Spirit has chosen) a highly unorthodox method of presentation for the overall look, function and specifics of WRI which is OK because the whole thing has been highly unorthodox from the get go! I promise I will have some goodies for everyone in about six weeks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Next, we collectively are trying (as if we didn&amp;#39;t have enough to do!) to organize a scaled down version of a WRI retreat to occur sometime by the end of this Summer. Again, if you feel compelled in anyway to volunteer in anyway or are a conscious vendor, conscious band, instructor or other some such thing, again please contact Kelly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I hope this satisfies you all for now and that you feel like you are up to snuff on things!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gratitude, Endless Blessings and Boundless Love,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kelly, Stuart and Erik&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;X-posted from &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://worldrave.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"&gt;World Rave International&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/WRI" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'WRI'"&gt;WRI&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/World+Rave+International" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'World Rave International'"&gt;World Rave International&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/transformative+practice" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'transformative practice'"&gt;transformative practice&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/alternative+healing" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'alternative healing'"&gt;alternative healing&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/dance" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'dance'"&gt;dance&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/trance" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'trance'"&gt;trance&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/music" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'music'"&gt;music&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/rave" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'rave'"&gt;rave&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="WRI"/>
      <category term="World Rave International"/>
      <category term="transformative practice"/>
      <category term="alternative healing"/>
      <category term="dance"/>
      <category term="trance"/>
      <category term="music"/>
      <category term="rave"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>A Query For Awakened Women (and men!)</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-169733</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:15:43 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/a_query_for_awakened_women_and_men</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I have been talking to a lot of women as of late and asking them what it is to be in touch with the Divine Feminine.&amp;nbsp; Who are it&amp;#39;s icons?&amp;nbsp; What does it feel like?&amp;nbsp; I have sadly, received less than satisfactory answers from anyone or anything for that matter.&amp;nbsp; I have referenced libraries (Humboldt State University, Humboldt County) and I have Googled until my eyes are googled and all to no avail of anything that smacks of authenticity.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Even Wicca&amp;#39;s attributes of the Divine Feminine are overly pithy and esoteric with no real substance what so ever.&amp;nbsp; If One was to research the Divine Masculine, you will not only get all of the previous mentionings of pithyness and esoterica, you&amp;#39;ll get a huge volume of experiential information ranging from physical to non-dual in a multitude of transformative paths.&amp;nbsp; Sad really.&amp;nbsp; WE, I fear, are neglecting one half of OUR SELF out of complete ignorance.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; When I have been talking to these women, acrossed a broad age spectrum, concerning who they think best expresses Divine Femininity, the two most popular answers I recieved were Mother Teresa and Oprah Winfrey.&amp;nbsp; I agreed yes and no.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yes:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; They both exude qualities of deeply compassionate caring and nurturing and touching.&amp;nbsp; In my ignorant defense, I assumed these to be the qualities of the Divine Feminine but if I am wrong, I have only made my point that much more poignant.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Mother Teresa- Although deeply spiritual (obviously), she was a practitioner of Christianity.&amp;nbsp; Not only Christianity but Catholicism at that.&amp;nbsp; (I am a recovering Catholic all the way up to catechism and alter boy and Confirmation so I have license to bash a bit)&amp;nbsp; Catholicism by it&amp;#39;s very nature is heavily steeped in the masculine, divine or otherwise.&amp;nbsp; Ol&amp;#39; St. Peter made sure of that when he all but killed the Goddess entirely with the advent of the Roman Catholic Church.&amp;nbsp; Trumping up Mary Magdalene as a harlot and whore in scriptural doctrine instead of giving her her rightful place as an ardent mystic and an enlightened BEing in her own right is just bad press, not to mention not very nice.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oprah Winfrey - As wonderfully inspiring as she is, what with all of her heartfelt charitable works and generosity, Oprah&amp;#39;s public display of Spirituality is unquestionably based on the Masculine Divine right on up to her 10 week online program with Eckhart Tolle.&amp;nbsp; Tolle&amp;#39;s meditation and visualization techniques are basically stripped down Buddhism.&amp;nbsp; Nothing wrong with that at all except that it once again proves my point.&amp;nbsp; Based in the Divine Masculine.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; So...........as you can see, WE have a bit of a crisis on OUR hands.&amp;nbsp; A big one.&amp;nbsp; As a good, observant Integral Philosopher/Practitioner (and I try to be), I can see that until WE collectively rediscover, experience and embrace the Divine Feminine, the Divine Masculine can go no further from an evolutionary standpoint.&amp;nbsp; Sound good ladies?&amp;nbsp; It&amp;#39;s not so good actually.&amp;nbsp; The Divine aspects of Spirit should not be confused with gender as Spirit embraces both the Masculine and the Feminine.&amp;nbsp; The problem lies in that WE don&amp;#39;t recognize the Divine Feminine right in front of us like WE do with the Divine Masculine and need I remind you how long that took US collectively to get to that point and some of US are still terribly clueless.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; So here&amp;#39;s what I want.&amp;nbsp; I want to know what it is to:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1)&amp;nbsp; Awaken to the Divine Feminine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (signposts of attainment outlined here would be nice as well as States and Stages on a &lt;a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/43745218_76b4bcdfc7.jpg" target="_blank"&gt;Wilber/Combs lattice&lt;/a&gt; would be cool too!)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)&amp;nbsp; Touch the Divine Feminine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (viewpoints of both the male and female gender perspective are important here)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Embrace the Divine Feminine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (what is the viewpoint of marrying the Divine Masculine with the Divine Feminine so as to transcend and include in a typical holarchical fashion?)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I know that I directed this query to awakened women in general, but I should like to hear from awakened men as well.&amp;nbsp; The criteria for answering is critical.&amp;nbsp; The responses should be completely objective without any slant from gender orientation unless it is expounding on number two above where that is specifically asked from an experiential level.&amp;nbsp; I think that most of this online community could smell inauthenticity from a mile away anyway.&amp;nbsp; So don&amp;#39;t try it!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; It is very, very important that WE experience and embrace this.&amp;nbsp; It could very well be, dare I say, the very balance WE so desperately need in OUR world nay, Universe today.&amp;nbsp; At all levels of BEing, from the gross physical all the way to the non-dual.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;ll tell you what.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You can bet when &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://worldrave.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"&gt;WRI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; get&amp;#39;s up and running that this topic will be the subject of over half the curriculum at every center until one gestaltic revelation after another marks the signposts of attainment!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;ve had a bit on my mind lately and now so do you!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Endless Blessings and Boundless Love,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Divine+Feminine" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Divine Feminine'"&gt;Divine Feminine&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Feminine+Enlightenment" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Feminine Enlightenment'"&gt;Feminine Enlightenment&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Integral" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Integral'"&gt;Integral&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Wilber%2FCombs+lattice" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Wilber/Combs lattice'"&gt;Wilber/Combs lattice&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/holon" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'holon'"&gt;holon&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/holarchy" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'holarchy'"&gt;holarchy&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="Divine Feminine"/>
      <category term="Feminine Enlightenment"/>
      <category term="Integral"/>
      <category term="Wilber/Combs lattice"/>
      <category term="holon"/>
      <category term="holarchy"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>WRI so far...</title>
      <author>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com</author>
      <dc:creator>eBuzz</dc:creator>
      <guid>tag:gaia.com,2008:Gaia-169412</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:50:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <link>http://redwoodjedi.gaia.com/blog/2008/2/wri_so_far</link>
      <description>


&lt;p&gt;Hey everybody!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Sorry about my inactivity on the blog as of late.&amp;nbsp; I had a beautiful vacation in Mt. Shasta last week and now I am trying to catch up with some things on the WRI front.&amp;nbsp; Shasta btw, is one of the most collectively awakened communities I have ever had the pleasure to visit thus far.&amp;nbsp; It&amp;#39;s like Sedona, Arizona only with alot more snow.&amp;nbsp; I hung out in some of the most wonderful little bookshops and coffee shops and everybody was warm and friendly and extremely knowledgeable on all things Spiritual.&amp;nbsp; Not a single copy of Maxim on the magazine shelves.&amp;nbsp; It was more like What Is Enlightenment?, Tricycle, Shambhala Sun, Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, and.....you get the idea.&amp;nbsp; Simply fantastic!&amp;nbsp; The bookshelves were pretty much the same caliber of quality.&amp;nbsp; Add to that a nice steamy mocha of consciously grown free trade coffee and the shadow of the majestic mountain caressing the town and you have the complete picture.&amp;nbsp; Fabulous!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Things are busy on the WRI dealy albeit progress is slow but steady and intentional.&amp;nbsp; I have written the manifesto and I am currently working on getting the concept out to everyone in a format not yet done before to the best of my knowledge.&amp;nbsp; It is exciting!!&amp;nbsp; I hope to have something to show all of you in about six weeks as this should be complete before we have our first meeting at the round table in Boulder about that time.&amp;nbsp; I promise you, wonderful things are unfolding and the fire in my heart is just barely contained!&amp;nbsp; Watch for it!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I Love Y&amp;#39;all&amp;nbsp; Immensely!! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Slainte Mhath!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Erik&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Tags:&lt;/b&gt;

&lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/WRI" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'WRI'"&gt;WRI&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/vacation" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'vacation'"&gt;vacation&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Natalie+Portman" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Natalie Portman'"&gt;Natalie Portman&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Mt.+Shasta" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Mt. Shasta'"&gt;Mt. Shasta&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Drew+Barrymore" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Drew Barrymore'"&gt;Drew Barrymore&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/busy-busy-busy%21" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'busy-busy-busy!'"&gt;busy-busy-busy!&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Padme+Amidala" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Padme Amidala'"&gt;Padme Amidala&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/Natport" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'Natport'"&gt;Natport&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="gaia.com/blogs/tags/endometriosis" rel="tag" title="See all blog entries tagged 'endometriosis'"&gt;endometriosis&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

      </description>
      <category term="WRI"/>
      <category term="vacation"/>
      <category term="Natalie Portman"/>
      <category term="Mt. Shasta"/>
      <category term="Drew Barrymore"/>
      <category term="busy-busy-busy!"/>
      <category term="Padme Amidala"/>
      <category term="Natport"/>
      <category term="endometriosis"/>
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